I decided that the previous name of this blog was becoming unseemly, so it is now “The Puffin Perch”. Maybe I’ll finish some of those drafted posts now that I won’t be embarrassed to have people find them. But no promises!

Something went terribly wrong in my WordPress install today, and I’m not sure what, or why. The database is fine, along with all the posts and comments, as far as I can tell. Those who read by feed probably won’t even notice a difference.

Once I have time to descend back into the Jeffries Tubes around here, I’ll get it sorted.

Every once in a while, Canthros pocket-dials me. I always wonder why he’s calling, until he doesn’t answer my “Hello,” and I hear his footsteps. Then I know that he didn’t actually mean to call.

Yesterday, my phone rang as I pulled into the parking lot at work. It turned out to be another pocket-dial from Canthros, but I thought I heard a rhythmic honking sound. I chalked this up to an audio artifact, but I guess I should have paid it more heed.

Someone on Twitter quit Google Reader, and man! – that is tempting .[1] I still use it to keep up with the entire world, so killing it would unplug me completely – but I’m losing my will to keep up with this torrent of information, when I could be working for clients, or doing Extreme Unnecessary Overtime, or being social, or programming for fun, or playing Dwarf Fortress… I did these things this week instead of reading Reader obsessively, and then spent much of today clearing the backlog of 538 items I’d accumulated since Tuesday.

(Maybe I could cull out some of the weaker feeds… but even if I did that right now, I’m still going to see my friends’ 130 shared items in the morning about the Congress, guns, Libertarianism, and novelty cupcakes.)

Is it (really) okay to declare Reader Jubilee from time to time and hit the “Mark All As Read” button? After all, sharing with friends is a communications protocol, and so that might be construed as analogous to not reading my mail! Sure, I’ve played the “I saw that you shared it, but didn’t click through” card, but will “Reader Jubilee” really play?

Also, is it just me, or are you also falling victim to Really Substantial Syndication?

Not quitting NetFlix, though. I have little use for the DVD rental service, but it’s worth a handful of bills each month to be able to stream Duck Soup to the Xbox on demand. [↩]